Center for Public Research and Leadership | Columbia Law School

Curriculum

This yearlong course provides interdisciplinary teams of students from the Business and Law Schools, the School of International and Public Affairs, and Teachers College with structured experiential-learning opportunities and ways to explore new career options through supervised consulting projects for public sector organizations engaged in K-12 education.

Project work takes place in cross-disciplinary teams of four to six students under the leadership of an experienced Engagement Manager. In addition to experiential learning, the course intersperses the theoretical frame of Democratic Experimentalism with seminar-style discussions of the full range of organizational change occurring in U.S. K-12 education. The course also explores other public problem-solving regimes worldwide, including those used in environmental regulation, child-welfare services, juvenile justice, and food safety.  We help students to develop a set of problem-solving and transactional skills, including interviewing, presentation, team building, and business analysis.

Students who are selected for the course are asked to commit to six units in two semesters. The course grade will be based upon satisfactory completion of the year's work, including yearlong client projects.
To learn more about the course and practicum, download the full course description (PDF) and download the syllabus (PDF).